Re: Bankruptcy FAQs

I filed Chap. 7 bankruptcy in April 2004. It was dismissed because I did not have enought assets to proceed in Nov. 2004. How can I get the 3 bureaus to remove this from my credit report. I have been denied credit based on the filing even though nothing was discharged!!! I subsequently re-mortgaged my home and paid off credit card debts at negotiated amounts. These are listed as "0" balance but with a notation "charge Off". How can I clean up my credit report?

Re: Bankruptcy FAQs

1. Bankruptcy is available to anyone who lives or owns something in America. You do not need to be a US citizen or even in the country legally.

2. Under certain circumstances, filing bankruptcy can delay, if not entirely stop, criminal proceedings. This generally happens when one can show that the intent of the criminal action is to force payment of a debt and not simply to further the ends of justice. A prime example would be in a prosecution for bad checks where the DA and / or the police tell you that if you just pay the checks then they will let everything slide.

Re: Bankruptcy FAQs

Thanks beamMEup. Lots of good information. It seems unfair that if the bankruptcy did not go through the credit bureaus can still report it for 10 years. When the collection calls became incessant I bit the bullet and mortgaged my house to the hilt in order to satisfy my creditors. My house would have been paid for in a couple of years. Now I have a 30 year mortgage again! I do not have any Visa, MC, Amex etc. Only 2 store cards and 2 gas company cards. Should I try for a major cc?

I currently have scores in the 700's, mid is 729. I want to look into refinancing my house to lower my interest rate and get out of an ARM. I've been in this for 3 years and am now past the penalty phase.

I also have a child in college and will need to co-sign on loans. We tried CITI and they turned us down. That's why this whole thing started trying to get my report cleaned up. With the decline in housing prices my LTV is not too good so I won't be able to take on more debt to cover the tuition.

Re: Bankruptcy FAQs

Thanks beamMEup. Lots of good information. It seems unfair that if the bankruptcy did not go through the credit bureaus can still report it for 10 years. That's a common response. Don't take it personally. It's that mathematically, those who have filed (whether they are dismissed or discharged) are more likely to have a major delinquency in the future. That's just what FICO does - it's a mathematical algorithm. We are not our FICO scores We kind of have to separate ourselves and look at it rationally rather than personally. I have a BK reporting, as well, so I know how it feels. Something about seeing it in print and associated with your name can shake anyone up. Don't let it. Just take it as something you need to be aware of, and know that the more information you have, the better you can manage your FICO score and how that BK reporting impacts you.

I do not have any Visa, MC, Amex etc. Only 2 store cards and 2 gas company cards. Should I try for a major cc?

FICO likes you to have a bank/national credit card company account. It can be a cc, a heloc, or ploc. It's FICO Reason Code #3. When we app'd for a refi, our loan officer checked to be sure we had a bank/nccc for its FICO score advantage. When I opened my first bank card, I saw a 20 point increase, when DH opened his, he saw a 29 point increase. It was, however, also our first current cc reporting, so your mileage will vary.

I currently have scores in the 700's, mid is 729. As MVV says, “One thing I will ask is where did you get those scores? No one has been able to pull their own Experian FICO score since last February. Creditors can pull Experian and also there is a CU in Pennsylvania that supplies that information to it's members only. You can only buy true FICO scores at a few places. One place is here at myfico. I suggest you do an internet search for "myfico discount codes" to save a little money. You can also purchase your Equifax score at www.equifax.com and your Transunion score at www.transunioncs.com.” The biggest problem with other scores (FAKO scores) is they do not correlate with and are not predictive of FICO scores."

I want to look into refinancing my house to lower my interest rate and get out of an ARM. I've been in this for 3 years and am now past the penalty phase. We did our refi five months after CH 13 BK discharge. We also got out of an ARM, and went traditional. Our BK was really not an issue, even that early on.

I also have a child in college and will need to co-sign on loans. We tried CITI and they turned us down. That's why this whole thing started trying to get my report cleaned up. With the decline in housing prices my LTV is not too good so I won't be able to take on more debt to cover the tuition.

Check out the thread on Education Loans. All of our children have graduated or are currently attending college. We have been very happy to help them in myriad ways, but we have not co-signed for their education loans. They have all done wonderfully. Everyone's situation is different, but if you read and post your education loan concerns there, you will receive excellent feedback.

Re: Bankruptcy FAQs

I filed BK in 8/2008. A couple of the credit cards included in the bankruptcy still have late payments and key derogatories on my credit report. Is this allowed? I was under the impression that once it was included in bankruptcy the payment information was gone and only the fact that it was included in bankruptcy remained.

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